Monday, December 31, 2012

Get published in 2013 and finish the race.

GET THAT BOOK FINISHED!

Have you ever wondered how many books are never read, artworks
never seen and stories are never told? Distracted Creatives hit the wall of
life all the time never quite finalising their inspired beginnings and I have
been one of them on several occasions but this year was different.

It was this revelation that began a succession of finishes in 2012 for me. If I
was going to be challenged with my time and energy I had to make my time count
and seriously consider my goals and direction this year. Presently I have two picture books being published in 2013 (hopefully
more) and I want to encourage you, YES YOU to finish your race this coming
year.

Inspired beginnings – I get zillions of them. But it is finishing
the race that takes real commitment. It is the difference between a pipe dream
and a dream realised. It is also what turns a hobby into a profession. Regardless
of a hard 2013 where my family had heart wrenching challenges, I made a decision
to finish a few races no matter what and I managed to pull it off.

TURNING IDEAS INTO BOOKS

In late 2011 I had collected many story ideas and started
several drafts. There were some good ones in there and it was time to develop as
many as I could. It was a tough selection but I sat down and prayerfully chose
what to finalise and worked on them one by one.

MAKING A LIST AND CHECKING IT TWICE

I drafted a small list, wrote them down as I knew I could
easily forget some of them and remained committed. It felt so good to get story after story
finished and fortunately in time for an opportunity to run them by an editor
(one of which I have an offer of contract on - Yahoo!)

I also worked more on my office workflow and this helped
heaps (I will share tips SOON)

TRADE YOUR NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION FOR A FINISH LINE!

In 2013 I encourage everyone to do as I will be doing;
instead of New Year’s resolution, jot down a prioritised list for projects that
are most important to you and make you dreams a reality. Write down what blocks
your workflow or distracts you from finalising projects and write down the
solutions. Don’t say you don’t know them – you do. You just need to take a
little time to think it though. Even if they are small steps make an effort to
work in those areas as much as possible and I promise you in time it will pay
off. Like me, you will feel a sense of achievement regardless of the outcome.

If you don’t get through the whole list don’t worry. When
you pluck off a couple of big ones at the top you will be pretty happy at the
end of 2013. Who knows maybe you’ll be published, or have an exhibition or whatever
your dream is. Whatever it is, I wish you ever success for 2013 and thank you wholeheartedly
for following my blog.

FREE TEMPLATES AND INFORMATION FOR ILLUSTRATORS.

It is my intention to share more helpful information this
coming year including sharing templates etc. This may help you with your own journey.
Happy New Year!

2 comments:

That is a great post, and really good tips too! I definitely want to be more productive in 2013 than I ever have before. It's very disheartening to be busy all the time but not actually accomplish anything art wise. Not this year!